Not only abroad – and mainly in German speaking areas and Scandinavia – people create beautiful, dreamy music that questions the sense of life in this world going crazy. Also in Belgium there are musicians with a genuine vision on this topic. Coincidence or not, but exactly during the tenth anniversary celebration of Prophecy Productions, I got in contact with Jef Janssen from Diest (Belgium). The music on predecessor ‘Evening Sessions’ breathed the atmosphere of the semi-acoustic albums of that label. Four years later ‘Posthuman Decadence’ offers us a second contemplative journey through atmospheric music sceneries.

The graceful, dreamy music has a dark apocalyptical approach this time. The eclectic blend of neo-folk and dark wave tells the story of a struggling individual, searching for the true meaning of life, but slowly getting estranged from the essence of existence. Thus he loses himself into decadence. Yet in the end we have to admit that nature and people you love are the only things that matter.

The music of Art Of Empathy is based upon acoustic guitars and keyboards (introvert classical piano as well as soaring synthesizers). Vocals are mysterious whisperings or story-telling – only now and then we have real sung parts – but it has enough momentum to express different emotions like rage, despair or resignation. With the previous album, I already wrote a slight comparison with Dornenreich and even now there is a kind of similarity, although the general penchant is more reporting than “Sturm und Drang” rethoric. Samples from the hectic outside world give it all a post-apocalyptic edge. Everything sounds just a bit better than on the debut. Just take the opening track ‘The Design’. This sounds like an impressive soundtrack of a movie, including repetitive patterns and massive choirs. There is much more to discover in this musical journey of one hour long, that’s why you better listen to it as a whole. Art Of Empathy is also a multi-linguistic experience, even Flemish lyrics are inserted in the entire thing, without being really conspicuous. Art Of Empathy is a one-man-project, but we always have some guest musicians too. This time, ‘Virile Earth’ was co-written by the Greek keyboardist Q_Snc and ‘The Paradox Of Essence’ includes some ideas of the Belgian ambient project Sequences. A remix of two older songs was done by the Danish guys of Anstalt. Do visit www.artofempathy.be and one hour of magnificent music that will make you fall in reveries about this merry-go-round on earth will be yours, because you can download this entire album again.